Archive for December, 2010

How to be Smarter: People learn how to talk to you by what you teach them is an acceptable way to talk to you. If you someone speaks meanly to you, and you don’t ask them to stop, you are teaching them it is okay to do so. You make the rules for your life, most certainly including how others communicate with you.

How to be Prettier: You need clothes in your closet for what you do most often. If you spend 5 days a week at a job or school, and 2 nights a week out about town, the simple math is that 2/7 of your clothes should be cocktail attire, and the other 5/7 should be for work or school. If this fact make you feel like your closet instantly became less awesome, then it might be time to remind yourself that looking appropriate certainly doesn’t mean looking boring.

How to be Smarter: Making a decision is climbing a diving board. Realizing you have a choice to make is walking up to the ladder; figuring out your options are the steps of the ladder; considering each option’s pros and cons is walking down the board; standing at the end of the board is the time when you really think about your choice and if it is what you want; and jumping is making that choice. If you try to jump off the diving board before you’ve reached the end of the board, the decision probably won’t turn out into the perfect swan dive you want.

How to be Prettier: One of my closest friends gave me this necklace as a Christmas gift, and I haven’t taken it off since.

How to be Smarter: Relationships with upstanding, decent people should be celebrated and shared, not hidden. If you are embarrassed to tell your mom who you are dating, it is probably a bad idea to be dating them.

How to be Prettier: The longer you can sit with your hands under the dryer at the salon, the longer your polish stays on without chipping. (This has long been my hypothesis, but a recent four week-long study with myself as the subject confirmed this).

How to be Smarter: When you first get in the ocean, the water is usually really cold and uncomfortable until you duck your head under. As soon as your head is under, the water usually starts to feel warmer. Sometimes when you first try new activities, jobs, or majors, they can be really cold-feeling and uncomfortable until you make a commitment to fully immerse yourself in your new environment. To reach out and make new friends in your writing class; to run for office in your film club; to invite a girl in the cubicle next to you out for lunch. In order for nervousness and uncomfortable feelings to go away, you often have to dive right in and swim around a little until you warm up.

How to be Prettier: Stylish, warm lounging slippers–great for a dad, brother or boyfriend.